Faster Internet service coming to Stoystown

STOYSTOWN - Another portion of the county is catching up to speed with broadband Internet access.

On Friday, residents in both the borough and a large part of Quemahoning Township became eligible for high-speed online service.

Carol Perigo, Stoystown Borough secretary, started her off-and-on efforts to bring faster Internet to her area nearly a year ago.

“For these small communities, it's been hard to get the technology in,” she said. “I'm glad we were able to achieve that.”

Internet service will be provided to the community through Verizon's Bona Fide Retail Request Program. To qualify for the initiative, organizers - called aggregators - must find 50 community members who commit to purchase Internet services. By demonstrating high demand, aggregators provide incentive for the Internet companies to invest in making broadband access available in rural areas.

Perigo said her recruitment progress had practically been at a stand-still for a few months until she sent the newspaper a letter to the editor about two months ago.

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“We had a lot of response from that,” she said.

Perigo added that she had submitted the 50 names only about a week ago.

“Usually it takes about a year, but they've got mine hooked up already,” she said. “(The Verizon representative) had just said we were on the to-do list.

“Maybe it's because we're near Friedens, and they already have it there.”

Perigo said she wasn't sure how soon they would receive actual service, but added that she would be willing to provide information to help anyone else interested in getting involved in the aggregation process.

Stoystown joins Confluence, Salisbury and Friedens in areas to gain high-speed access over the past year.